Valve operating rod for locomotives



VALVE OPERATING ROD FOR LOCOMOTIVES Filed D60. 17, 1952 WITNESSES: INVENTOR: @fiww mw ATTORNEIYS.

Patented July 9, 1935 UNITED STATES VALVE OPERATING RODFOR:

LOCOMOTIVES v Harry A. Hoke, Altoona, Pa. Application December 17, 1932,'Serial No. 647,836 Claims. (01. 105-37) Thisinvention relates to valve operating rods for locomotives,'and while capable of a variety of uses, is especially applicable to a rod for operating the reversing valve ofa stoker engine.

5 Heretofore it has been common practice to locate the stoker driving engine of a locomotive on'the underframe beneath the locomotive 'cab, and to employ a valve operating rod extending upward through the floor of the cab and terminating in a handle near the firemans seat. The handle end of the valve operating rod is customarily locked to the cab floor in alternate positions to effect starting, stopping, and reversing of the stoker With such an arrangement it will be engine. apparent that, incident to vibration or other movement of the cab floor with respect to the.

locomotive frame, a severestrain is placed upon the valve operating rod, often causing the rod to break and resulting in an e'ngineffailure.

for relieving such a valve operating rod of undue strain, while permitting the rod to'function eifierating rod of my invention is madeup of a plurality of interfitting sections flexibly connected, having capacity for limited relative move ment, resilient means being interposed between "'the sections. v 1 r my' invention will become more fully apparent from the description hereinafter set forth of one example or embodiment thereof; thedescription having reference to the accompanying drawing. Of the drawing: i Fig. I represents a perspective view of part of a steam locomotive with certain portions of the cab and tender broken away to illustratefthe stoker apparatus. I

Fig. II represents an enlarged View of the stoker engine reversing valve and the operating rod therefor I Fig. III represents an enlarged'view of the flex-' ible joint between the upper and lower sectionsof 'the' valve operating rod, being .partly insection as indicated by the linesfIlI-III of Fig. II.

Fig. IV represents 'a perspective view of one of the disks employed for housing the ends of the spring of the flexible joint; and,

Fig. V represents a perspective view of a keeper plate attached to the floor of the cab and through which the valve operating rod passes.

- In Fig. I of the drawing, there are shown por-:

tions of a steam locomotive I and tender 2 The object of the invention is to overcome fail ures of this nature by the provision of means equipped with a well-known type of stoker. The V stoker comprises generally a conveyor trough 3, which leads from the tender 2 forward beneath thecab floor 4 and terminates in a vertical conduit 5 at the fire box '6, a conveyor screw 1, and av driving engine 8. The driving engine 8 actuates a shaft 9 and connecting shaft I (the latter being geared to the conveyor screw 1 by means not shown in the drawing) to effect rotation of the conveyor screw and hence to convey fuel from the tender 2 to the firebox 6. 7

Associated with the? stoker driving engine 8 there is a'reversing valve H, an enlarged view of which is represented in Fig'. II. The body of the reversing valve 1 I has thereon a pipe connection l2. through which livesteam from the boiler enteraadditional pipe connections l3 and I4 leadingto opposite ends of the cylinders of the stoker engine 8, Janda pipecOnnectiOn' i5; leading to the atmosphere; Movementjof the piston valve I 6 to different positions within the valve body ll causes steam from the boiler, to be admitted 'to one end of the cylinders of the'stoker engine 8 or the other, or to be cut-off from the stoker engine, thus controlling the direction of rotation of the drive shaft 8 andhence of the conveyor screw 1, as well as the-starting 'and stopping of the same. j V g As thus far described, the stoker and its driv- Other objects and advantages characterizing mgengme are slmflar to apparatus now m mon use on locomotives, and the operation of such apparatus is well understood by those familiar with the art. For controlling the movement of the piston valve I6, I provide a special form of operating rod H. The rod I! extends upward through the cab floor 4 and terminates of the cab, though there are other desirable locations for the operating rod handle I8 which are also contemplated.

j The valve operatingrod ll comprises an upper section l9 and a lower section 20, the latter section serving in effect as, the valve stem. The lower-section 20 ofthe .valve operating rod is attached by means of nuts 22 to a packing ring 23, the packing ring constituting an integral part of the-piston valve It. At the point where the lower section 2!] of the valve operating rod I'l passes through the cover 24 of the valve body ll, there is provided a gland 25. The upper threaded end 2| of the lower section 28 of the valve operating rod II has thereon a slotted nut 26 which is preferably held against rotation by means of a cotter pin 21 and which may have associated therewith a washer 28.

The upper section IQ of the valve operating rod 1'! terminates at its lower end in a fiat surface 29 aifording an abutment adapted to engage the upper end 2| of the lower rod section 20. Bolted to the upper rod section Hi there is a yoke 36 having an opening 3| in the lower end thereof, this opening. being of larger: diameter than that of the rod section 20. The: lhwer rodi sec tion 23 passes through the opening 3|. Between the nut 26 with its washer 28 and the lower end of the yoke 30, there is provided 'a helical spring 33 and a pair of disks 322,. one: of which is shown in perspective in Fig. N; which house the opposite ends of the 3-3. In an obvious manner the upper rod section I9 may be swung forwardly on'rearwwrdlyr within! the opening in the cab floor 4 with the yoke. 30 serving in effect as a pivotal connection between the upper and lower rod sections. It will thus be apparent. that the valve operating; rodv' l1 comprises interfitting, sections B9,. 2% which: are flexibly connected im such manner that. they have capacity for limited relative movement in. the direction of. their length. as well as. capacity for relative angular movement.

The upper rod section L8 has notches; 34a, 34b at the: side: edge thereofwhich notches are ;adapted toengage a keeper plate. 35 secured to the cab floor 4, an enlarged. view of which is represented: in- Fig. V. To; maintain the. valve operating red I! in locked position. a laterally acting helical spring. 35 is; provided. One end of this spring 36 is attached to the rod sectionferen-t positions by means. of. the handle. [8 in] the locomotive cab.

With the valve operating rod f! in its fully raised position, as, shown in Fig. 11, the notch 34a of. the rod engages the keeper plate 35.

This position is conveniently designated the running position. With the sections, of the valve operating rod IT in running position, the helical spring 33 is compressed, the packingring 2'3 abuts against the cover 21 of the valve body H, and the fiat surface 29 of the upper rod" section I9 is spaced from the threaded end 2! of the lower rod section II. The spring 33 tends to draw the sections I9; 20 together and hence maintains the piston valve [6 in a fixed position within the valve body ll, even though the cab floor may vibrate or move laterally or vertically with relation to the Stoker driving engine 8. Moreover, the spring 33 relieves the valve oper-- ating rod of the strain to which it would. otherwise be subjected if the sections of the rod were rigidly connected together.

-When the valve operating rod I1 is pushed downward to an intermediate position, the notch 34b of the rod engages the keeper plate 35. This position is conveniently designated the neutral position. When the sections ll, l of the valve operating rod H are moved to neutral position, the helical spring 33 is allowed to expand and the flat surface 29 or the upper rod section I9 is caused to abut against the threaded end 2! of the lower rod section 2.. "The piston valve :6 is maintained in a neutral position within the valve body H, shutting on the admission of steam to the cylinders of the stoker driving engine 8, and causing the stoker apparatus to be at rest. In this position there is obviously no strain upon the valve operating rod l1.

When the valve operating rod I1 is pushed further downward to its fully depressed position, the rod is not locked to the keeper plate 35, and there is no notch required for this position which is conveniently designated the reversing. position. With the. sections L9,. 2 of the valve opera-ting. rod l7 in reversing. position, the spring 33 is expanded, the flat end 2.51- of the upper section l9 abuts against the lower section 2e, and the piston valve I5 is at i'islower li'mitof' travel. There is no strain upon the valve operating rod ll for it is not locked to, the keeper plate 35.

The degree of compression of the spring 33 may be adjusted in anobvious manner by means of the nut 26.. The spring 33 is so designed and adjusted that it serves to maintain the lower section 28 of the: valve. operating rod: If! fixed with; respect to the-valve body I l when the upper section is'lockedin. running position- Front. the above description it will be. apparent that. the valve; operating rod of this invention functions efiiciently to control: the action, 013 the. stoker driving engine and that under no condition, isv there; any; undue.- strain placed upon the valve.- opexzatin-g: rod. While I have described one example.- of. my invention, as: applied to a valve rod for. astolcer-engine,, it will, of course. be apparent that. the: invention may be applied to. other types of valve: rods, and that the form of apparatus l mrein specifically described admits of many changes: without departing from the spirit of, my mventiiomas: defined in the annexed claims.

. thus described myinventiorrl claim:

1.. Ian condemnation with a. locomotive, a valve body attached to the locomotive frame beneath the. can. a. valve operating. rod extending upward from said valve. body through the cab; floor and to'be. locked thereto in dilferent' positions, said operating rod comprising. interfitting: sections having capacity for limited relative movement in the direction of their length, and resilient means tending; to draw said; sections together, said means maintaimngzthe. operating rod sectionsv in contiguous. relation when the operating rod is locked in one position, and maintaining the valve against the valve body when the operatingrod is locked in another position.

2. In combination with a locomotive, a valve body attached to the locomotive frame beneath the cab, a valve operating rod extending upward from said valve body through the cab. floor and adapted to be locked thereto in different positions, said operating rod comprising upper and lower interfitting sections having capacity for limited relative movement in the direction of their length, and a spring tending to draw said sections together, said spring maintaining the operating rod sections in contiguous relation when the operating rod is locked in one position, and maintaining the valve against the valve body when the operating rod is locked in another position.

37. In combination with a. locomotive, having a valve body attached to. the locomotive frame beneath the cab, and a valve movable in said valve body, an operating rod for said valve extending upward through the cab'floor and adapted to be locked thereto in alternate raised and lowered positions to open and close said valve, said operating rod comprising upper and lower interfitting sections. having capacity for limited relative movement in the direction of their length, and a.

spring between said upper and lower sections tending to draw said sections together, said spring being compressed when the operating rod is in raised position, and then serving to hold said valve against the valve body incident to vibration of the cab floor, and said spring serving to maintain the sections of the operating rod in contiguous relation when the rod is locked. in lowered position. i g

4. In combination with a locomotive, a valve body attached to the locomotive frame beneath the cab, a valve operating rod extending upward from said valve body-through the cab floor and adapted to be locked thereto in difierent positions, said operating rod comprising upper and lower sections flexibly connected and having capacity for limited relative movement in a vertical direction, as well as relative angular movement, and resilient means tending to draw said sections together, said means maintaining the operating rod the cab, a valve operating rod extending upward from said valve body through the cab floor and terminating in a handle, said operating rod comprising interfitting sections flexibly connected and' having capacity for relative movement in a vertical direction as well as relative angular movement about their connection, and the handle section having notches adapted to engage the cab floor to hold the rod in alternate positions, a spring tending to maintain the handle section in engagement with the cab floor, and an additional spring tending to draw said sections together in a vertical plane.

HARRY A. HOKE. 

